I Think We're Alone Now (Pt 11 Puppy Dog Eyes Series)
by Valenka
Summary: The events following the end of ...And The Trial Of The One.


Dead. Jenkins was dead. Not a single sound filled the Annex halls as his body lay on the large table with the shroud still cast over him. Cassandra clung to his hand, he'd long ago gone cold but where Cassandra's hand clenched his the skin had remained warm. She'd not moved, hadn't spoken in hours, for a time she'd screamed and then she'd sobbed until tears had dried up and she'd been left in an almost catatonic silence. Had she not blinked the other Librarians and Guardian would have thought the redhead had passed on also. They'd all kindly teased Jenkins and Cassandra about their relationship at one point or another but as they all stood there in the large doorway unsure of what to do they could all see just how much he'd loved her and she him. Cassandra had always been a bright flame of positivity but that bright flame had been extinguished the second her love's life had.

Jenkins had forever been a constant in their minds, the safe and stable one who'd always be there for them and any Librarians after them but now he was gone. A Knight of Camelot had fallen.

Stone took a step forwards but Eve caught his shoulder and shook her head.

"Don't." Said Baird without taking her eyes off of Cassandra and Jenkins on the table. "Leave her be."

"She's been there hours."

"Stone mate, she just lost Jenkins."

Flynn nodded and spoke quietly. "Ezekiel is right. Jenkins is – was – our friend but he was who she loved most in the world, let her grieve."

Stone sighed. "She can't stay there forever."

Baird's hand slipped off of Jacob's shoulder. "I'm going to check on Adrianna, she's been alone too long."

The only sound was Eve's boots as they clicked and clacked as she vanished up towards Jenkins' chambers. The boys continued to watch Cassandra, Ezekiel cried quietly to himself thinking no one noticed while Stone stood there trying to be the brave one. Flynn fiddled with his sleeves, he'd always been the one running into danger, he'd expected to be the one gone first, not once had the head Librarian thought he'd be left behind, the one to mourn.

No one knew quite how long it took but when the blonde Guardian did return it was with a crying Adrianna in her arms; even the sound of her own child didn't pull Cassandra's attention.

"Still nothing?" She asked as she bounced the baby.

"No." Came Flynn's sighed reply.

Slowly Eve made her way over to Cassandra with an almost inconsolable Adrianna and stopped on the opposite side of the table to the redhead so as Jenkins lay between them.

"Cassandra?" She kept her voice soft.

Nothing. Not a single sound. Cassandra just continued to blink through half dry tears while Adrianna screamed out for her parents; knowing how much of a Daddy's girl she was the screaming was undoubtedly for Jenkins.

Baird tried again. "Cassandra, I know you're in pain. I can't even imagine how much pain but Adrianna needs you. Especially now." Still nothing but silence. "Jenkins isn't really gone, he's still here. Your daughter is his blood and she's here to he is too. And Adrianna needs you."

Suddenly Cassandra's hands shot up towards Eve though her eyes didn't leave Jenkins.

"Give me my baby."

Baird quickly slipped Adrianna into her mother's arms pleased that she'd actually gotten a reaction out of the redhead. Cassandra cuddled her daughter close and pressed Jenkins' hand between them and in that moment Adrianna cried louder; even Eve couldn't stop her tears at that sight.

"I know, Adrianna, I know." Cassandra bawled, her voice hoarse.

"Cassandra-"

"Go away. Please, Eve, please just go away." She begged of the Guardian.

Reluctantly Baird went back to the boys while Cassandra and her daughter cried at Jenkins' side. Baird instantly threw herself into Flynn's arms to sob.

~X~

Many days passed and people gathered for the funeral. Somehow they'd not expected very many people to attend but they'd all been wrong. Gretchen Clause and Santa sat in the second to front pew, the mirror had been given pride of place proudly for Judson and Charlene to attend. Ariel had returned from wherever she'd been hiding since Prospero's defeat; something they'd all been surprised about. The Monkey King and several of his monks had filled up a good third of the place. Perhapse most surprising was Cynthia Rockwell's attendance, after what she'd done to Jenkins the Librarians hadn't though she'd have been anywhere in a five mile radius of the funeral. Estrella sat a row behind the Librarians but she'd come more for Cassandra's bennefit than to pay her respects to the once immortal. Even the Caretaker's _Dungerons and Dragos _friends had shown up to pay their respects, Jeff and Aurora had already started to cry.

When the time came for Cassandra to deliver her eulogy she took one look at the podium and burst into tears, Ezekiel instantly pulled her and Adrianna close for a comforting hug; and to muffle the noise. Stone though, he took a calming breath and straightened his black tie before he quietly took the folded paper from the redhead's hand and went up to the podium.

"As you can all see, Cassie, isn't quite up to reading this so I hope no one minds if I do it for her."

He cleared his throat as he opened the paper and then movement right at the back by the door; Dulaque. He was stood there at the very back half in shadow but it was clearly him. Stone wanted to toss his ass out but this was his son's funeral and no matter how rocky or violent their relationship had been he had a right to say goodbye to his child. Frankly Stone nor any of the other Librarians had known what had happened to Dulaque after his attempt to bring back Camelot but if his pale face and sunken eyes were anything to go by it hadn't been good.

Stone turned his attention back to the speech and cleared his throat once more.

"Em, thank you all for coming. He was known by many names to each of us, Galahad, Galaes, Galath, Pure Knight, but to me he was Jenkins and to Adrianna he was her doting father. He'd lived so long and fought so many battles but still he had a sense of humor, still he was _good _and I loved him." Stone could see tear stains on the page as he continued to read Cassandra's words aloud. "Adrianna was a very unexpected surprise as you can all imagine and I was I was terrified at first but not Jenkins. Jenkins wasn't ever afraid of anyone or anything, so there he went showing me how wonderful it would be to have our child. He poured everything he had into being her father, just like he did being our Caretaker. Jenkins protected us all in ways we'll never fully know or understand. He once walked straight through a room full of natural gas and past a cave in to save us from a Devil, he cut down an army of day-walking vampires just to save me, and he fought off Dulaque-" Stone paused to look up at Dulaque still half in shadow; clearly he was the only one who knew Lancelot was there. "- so Flynn could repair the Loom of Fate. He pulled Eve off a cliff and let her land on him when Apep had them cornered. However, these are only all the things we know of. The legends told us he was a hero, a prophecy child, but he didn't do it for the praise or honour or even because he was born to do it, no, he did it because he was a good man. Jenkins told me once that heros weren't born, like Merlin's prophecy suggested but made, and he chose to be a hero when he met Arthur all those years ago. His time with our daughter was short but I hope that the brief time was enough for her to have learnt that from him. To be good, be brave." Stone took a breath. "Jenkins touched all our lives in so many different ways but I think he touched mine the most. When we met I was scared of my own shadow, my own head, afraid I couldn't be a Librarian, but he was always there to be supportive and encouraging and I found I could do it. He showed me how to be brave, that I had been all along. Jenkins made me realise I could be a hero too. He gave me the strength to be who I am now. The courage to be more than what people told be I'd be, he have me love and most importantly he gave me our daughter. And he's not really gone, he is Adrianna and she is him. She's the bit of him that will live on. So yes, he was Galahad, Galeas, Pure Knight of Camelot, the son of a princess, but in the end they weren't the things he valued or what made him who he was. No, he was Adrianna's father and he was the man I loved."

There was a long silent pause when Stone finished reading Cassandra's eulogy and when he looked back to Dulaque at the back of the sombre room Jacob could have sworn he saw the man wipe away a tear. Stone couldn't even begin to understand the loss of a child no matter how estranged. He didn't know what to say, and so he sound words falling from his lips.

"When I, Baird and Jones first met Jenkins we were clambering out of the woods wondering what the hell had just happened. Jenkins though, he'd just sat himself on the hood of his car with this little _welcome to the circus _smile on his face, you know the one, the 'this is going to be fun but I'm still not impressed' one. " Soft laughter sounded and he was thankful for that. "He took us to the Annex... in a way that one simple action gave us our home, the place we belonged to. At first we gave him a hard time, told him it was _our _Annex, we though he was just an obscenely tall old man set in his ways. We didn't know he was a Knight, or that he was an immortal, just the grumpy guy in a bow tie who liked to tidy up." The laughter sounded again momentarily. "But then Jenkins became so much more than that. He became our friend and a father figure to me and I'm sure the same is true for Jones... and probably Baird too in a weird sort of way." Stone smiled to himself. "Once we were in England trying to solve a series of strange deaths linked to a nightclub and Jenkins kept saying he'd been there but couldn't remember when, anyway, that's not the important bit. I was the only one that couldn't get into this club, Jenkins got in. Dressed up and actually got in." A soft chuckle echoed around the room as everyone continued to listen to him just ramble on. "Jenkins in a nightclub, I know. He... at the end of the night when Cassandra was trying to sleep off the affects he managed to open up a door straight into the club and pushed me through. He turned on all the music and light and stood behind the bar. He was taking the piss because he asked 'what can I get you, Sir'. How that man could tend bar I don't know but I'm going to miss those times and I think we all will. Jenkins wouldn't stand for us being sad though, grumpy and macabre was his thing, he wouldn't want that. He'd not be able to stand seeing Cassandra cry, so I hope you'll all join us in remembering the good times and celebrate his unfathomably long life. Thank you."

He made his way back to his seat between Cassie and Flynn before his rambling really did go on too long. Carefully he took Adrianna from the redhead so she could all but fold herself into Ezekiel's arms. With the floor open for anyone to speak Flynn felt as though he should, he was Head Librarian after all.

Cassandra didn't stop crying all day and no one could blame her, she didn't stop when the funeral ended, not during the entire wake, not until it was very late and she ran out of tears. She couldn't do this anymore.

~X~

The three Librarians smacked their resignations down on what had once been Jenkins' desk. Eve hated this but she clung to Adrianna who'd passed out at such a late hour.

"No, I have everything I had to The Library. I gave it my love, I gave it my trust, and it took Jenkins! It took my baby's father! And I hate it! I hate it! It took Jenkins!" She sobbed, maybe there had been more tears locked up inside her. "I don't trust this place anymore. It took Jenkins. It crossed a line. I'm done."

"I, Jacob Stone, hereby resign from the post of Librarian."

"I, Ezekiel Jones, hereby resign from the post of Librarian."

"I, Cassandra Cillian, hereby resign from the post of Librarian."

Cassandra pulled Adrianna from Baird's arms as the former Librarians made to leave the Annex for the last time but she paused when Eve spoke.

"Where will you go?" There was so much emotion in the blonde's voice.

"I'm going to stay with my parents for a while. This isn't how I wanted them to meet Adrianna but..." She trailed off.

No more words, she couldn't do it. Cassandra just left, walked out of the Annex and what had been the happiest time of her life. The Library had given her a life but now it had torn it all away and ripped it to shreds. She never wanted to step foot there again.


End file.
